The present invention relates to an electric hand-held power tool with at least one electrical drive, at least one electrical device that requires electrical energy in order to operate, a shut-off delay device for the electrical drive and/or the electrical device, and with at least one rechargeable battery for supplying electrical energy to the drive and the electrical device.
An electric hand-held power tool of this type is known. In that case, the rechargeable battery is disconnected entirely from all electrical consumers in the electric hand-held power tool when the electric hand-held power tool is switched off, e.g., when a related pushbutton is released. This usually takes place immediately with the electrical drive of the electric hand-held power tool, since an extended after-running time of the tool driven by the electrical drive is undesirable. A delayed shut-off is desirable for other electrical devices, however. These other electrical devices include, for example, additional measurement or testing devices, or the control electronics of the electric hand-held power tool itself.
While the electrical components that consume a great deal of current during operation are usually shut off immediately, it is possible and reasonable to allow delayed shut-off of electrical devices that do not consume much current (e.g., the control electronics). Since the control electronics require a short amount of time in order to become fully operational, when the electric hand-held power tool is switched back on after the control electronics have been switched off, a brief dead time occurs until the control electronics respond to the operator's switch-on request. This is not user-friendly and, with hand-guided electric power tools in particular, may result in malfunctions, since the electrical drive starts at a later point in time than the operator expects it to.
With the delayed shut-off of the control electronics, dead times can be prevented when the power tool is restarted within the delay time. Since electrical devices require electrical energy, even if only a small amount, in order to operate, with electric hand-held power tools powered by rechargeable batteries, this may result in the rechargeable battery becoming discharged. If an exhaustive-discharge range of the rechargeable battery is reached as a result, the rechargeable battery may become damaged as a result.